This invention relates to work stations suitable for mounting office and other equipment and self-supporting equipment cabinets for use with such stations.
Work stations and desks for an office environment are well known and some of these are designed for use with particular office equipment such as computers, monitors and telephones. Also, modular type furniture arrangements for an office are well known and have been in use for a number of years. With this type of furniture or work station, a number of basic available components can be used to construct a particular furniture arrangement or work station arrangement that suits the needs of the user or users.
A beam-type work station system is described in applicant's U.S. Pat. No. 4,838,177 dated Jun. 13, 1989. This system which has met with considerable commercial success is particularly suitable for mounting electrical, communication and computer equipment adjacent a horizontal work surface. Support legs mount a beam of rectangular cross-section in a horizontal position above a floor. Support brackets are detachably connected to one or both sides of the beam and rigid work surfaces are mounted on outer sections of these brackets. A housing can be provided to mount display monitors, key pads and other equipment on the beam side of the work surface.
Although the aforementioned beam-type work station has proven to be quite successful, a number of improvements to this type of work station have now been developed by the applicant. These improvements include a primary support wall that can be mounted on top of the horizontal beam in a generally vertical position and support wall extensions that can be mounted on top of the primary support wall so as to increase the overall height of the wall. Preferably, both the support wall and its extension can be used to support relatively heavy items such as shelving so as to increase the flexibility and usefulness of the work station.
It is an object of the invention to provide a novel work station system that includes a self-supporting equipment cabinet which has at least one side thereof connectible to one end of the support beam of the work station. The cabinet has at least one elevated access opening in a side thereof, which opening is adjacent an open end of the beam so that wiring and cables can extend directly from inside the cabinet to the inside of the support beam.
The work station described herein is also provided with unique support brackets that are connected to the side of the beam and that are used to mount work surface members. These brackets have horizontal inner arm sections and steeply sloping intermediate arm sections connected to the outer end of the inner arm sections. With these brackets the work surface members can be supported at a substantial height of at least 12 inches above the height of the inner arm sections. With the use of these support brackets, a major portion of electrical equipment, such as a monitor, is positioned below a horizontal plane defined by the top of the work surface member or members.